Lakeside Family

* * *

If he had suddenly sprouted a horn from the middle of his forehead, Josie wouldn’t have been more shocked. She stared at him. “Excuse me?”

“You heard me.” He stepped closer.

“No. No, I don’t think I did.” She swallowed and tried not to inhale the richness of his cologne. His closeness stirred feelings she’d stuffed away a long time ago. Feelings that got her into trouble.

“Josie—”

“Are you insane?” She stepped back, needing distance. “I asked you for a blood test, you idiot. Not for a marriage proposal. You’re crazy.”

He raised an eyebrow and leaned against a table, arms crossed over his chest. “I’m serious.”

“So am I.” She threw her hands in the air and muttered something in Italian that would’ve gotten her in trouble as a child. “Who in their right mind marries a guy off the street?”

“I’m not exactly a stranger.”

She whirled around and searched his face for a hint of common sense. “To Hannah, you are. I haven’t seen you in over ten years. I have no idea who you are anymore. A little girl’s life is at stake here, and you’re playing games.” Funny how the Nick she knew back then was completely different than the man standing in front of her.

He watched her without saying a word. His jaw clenched. He was serious.

What a mess this was becoming. “Nick—”

Nick pushed away from the table and shoved his hands in his front pockets. “I missed out on nine years of my daughter’s life. I’m not going to have some test done, give her another piece of me and disappear for the rest of her life. I have a responsibility now. I won’t abandon my family.”

“Your family? Where were you when she was teething? Where were you on the first day of kindergarten? Where were you when she spent the night throwing up after her first chemo treatment? We quit being yours the day Hannah was born, and you didn’t show up.”

“Not. My. Fault.” His voice rose. “Maybe if you had faced me yourself, we wouldn’t be here right now.”

He blamed her? “I was seventeen, living at home, without a high school diploma, much less a job. You expected me to chase you across two states in the off chance you just might want to play house? I don’t think so.” Her chest heaved.

She grabbed the back of the couch and dug her fingers into the fabric. She drew in a deep breath and blew it out slowly before facing him again. Feeling a tiny bit calmer, she turned back to him. “When you didn’t show up after I called your mother, I wrote you out of our lives. But now I’ll do whatever it takes to save Hannah’s life. Even if it means dealing with you again.”

Nick closed the distance between them in two strides and placed both hands on her shoulders. “If I had known about Hannah from day one, I would have been there. I would have given it all up to raise her with you.” Nick’s gaze pierced her soul. “That option was taken from me. I can’t make up the past, but I will be a part of her life—with or without your consent.”

Josie’s heart raced. Was he threatening her? She pulled his hands off her shoulders, squeezed his fingers and softened her tone. “Look, I respect your wanting to be a part of her life, but that doesn’t mean we have to get married. Come on, Nick, get real. Who does that? Besides, how could I marry someone I can’t even be sure is going to stick around?” She had plenty of experience with people claiming to love her and then leaving.

“When can I see her?”

What if she didn’t let him see her? Would he refuse to get tested? She couldn’t risk it. Josie let go of his hands and glanced at the large clock above the fireplace. She was so late. Would Hannah still be awake? How would she even begin to explain Nick to her? Maybe the best way would be to have Hannah meet Nick, explain why he was there and then let the two of them get to know each other with her nearby. “Let me lock up, and we can head to my house now.”

“She’s home alone?”

The accusation in his voice scored a direct hit. Did he think she was that irresponsible?

“No, Nonno—my grandfather—lives with us. Usually I only work until noon, but worked this afternoon to catch up from being away this morning.”

“Does she know about me?” The uncertainty in his voice nearly melted her anger.

She sighed and then shook her head. “Not really. I mean, I haven’t kept you a huge secret or anything, but she knows you as an ex-high school boyfriend. She’s seen yearbook pictures. That’s about it.”

“And my mom never contacted you?”

“Not once.”

“I’m sorry.”

She lifted a shoulder. “Sorry can’t erase the last ten years.”

“Regardless of what you think of me, if I had known, I wouldn’t have just left you to face everything alone.”

“Well, we can’t exactly turn back time, can we? So I guess we’ll never know. You have a choice now. Just don’t screw it up.”

Josie flicked off the dining room lights, leaving on a row above the front counter edged against the large storefront window. “I’m going through the kitchen and out the back door. I’ll meet you out front and then you can follow me home.”

“Fine.”

As soon as he headed outside, Josie flipped the deadbolt into place, hurried through the kitchen, grabbed her purse off her desk and snatched her coat off the chair. She slammed through the back door.

Her fingers shook so badly that she dropped her keys in the snow slumped against the back of the building. She fished them out with bare fingers and leaned against the door, staring at the night sky as she pulled in large gulps of frosty air. She locked the door and trudged through the snow to her car.

Five minutes later, Josie pulled onto Songbird Lane and into her driveway with Nick’s headlights in her rearview mirror.

“You can do this. For Hannah.” Taking a deep breath, she clenched the steering wheel. With a final sigh, she grabbed her purse off the passenger seat and climbed out, slamming the door behind her.

Nick’s shoulders hunched close to his ears as he blew into his bare hands. “Feels like January instead of March.”

They were going to discuss the weather? Seriously?

His eyes shifted to her house, his lips turning upward. “It’s something out of a Disney movie.”

Shrubs of various shapes and sizes clustered against the front and around the sides of the stone cottage. Brittle limbs sighed over a chipped picket fence as if they carried the weight of winter. Cleared cobblestones meandered in a haphazard path to the red front door.

“Wait until you see the fairy door knocker. Hannah fell in love with it when we moved here.” Maybe small talk would help her forget about the pain eroding her heart. Doubtful.

“When was that?”

“Once I graduated from college—about five years ago or so.” Josie shoved her hands in her pockets and started up the walk. “She was in her Disney princesses phase.”

She opened the door, stepped inside then moved out of the way so he could enter. A small candlestick lamp on the semicircle foyer table by the front door lit the entryway. Shadows stretched across the wood floor that led into the living room. Josie dropped her purse on the table, shrugged off her coat and hung it in an open closet. She didn’t offer to take Nick’s. He wouldn’t be staying long.

She stepped into the bathroom around the corner from the front door and washed her hands. Returning to the hall, she nodded toward the bathroom. “Please wash your hands. We have to be really careful about germs.”

Without saying a word, Nick moved past her and did as she asked. She marched into the large living room without checking to see if he followed.

She passed by the taupe leather couch with its aqua-and-chocolate pillows and crocheted afghan and crossed to the matching recliner to kiss her grandfather’s cheek. He rested with his eyes closed and a suspense novel open on his chest. The soft glow of the tall candlestick lamp behind his chair bathed his face, filling in the lines and wrinkles of life’s experiences. “Nonno, I’m home.”

Her grandfather started, adjusting his glasses on his nose. “Cara, mi avete spaventato. You startled me.” His eyes shifted over her shoulder.